


Silent Hill Survivors Anonymous

by INMH



Series: Silent Hill Survivors Anonymous-Verse [4]
Category: Silent Hill
Genre: Angst, Drama, Family, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Language, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room - Freeform, Silent Hill: Downpour, Silent Hill: Homecoming - Freeform, Silent Hill: Origins, sexual innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 02:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once they all find out that they exist, it only seems natural that they meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Collection

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in late 2011, some months after my head-canon for Downpour (Roughly, March 2011). The only non-canon timeline thing I have here is Silent Hill 2: I wanted Laura to be a snarky teenager, and so in this story, Silent Hill 2 took place in 2003, three years after Silent Hill 3. (On that note, I'm basing this all off the timeline on the Silent Hill Wiki).

[-]

Almost everyone seemed to meet through Travis in one way or another.

[-]

Cheryl met Travis in 2005, having tracked him down amidst some research into her life as Alessa and the events that had led up to the fire. Douglas had driven up with her and stayed to the back as she and Travis spoke about things that were perhaps best left between them. She didn't quite remember being Alessa and only had a dim sense of haven't-I-met-you-before when looking at Travis, but Cheryl and he seemed to have a certain… Connection. Odd, considering the hell that Alessa had put him through; but Travis didn't seem interested in holding a grudge.

Not after what she had gone through.

[-]

James and Travis had the most casual of relationships: Travis had made deliveries to the hardware store that James worked at, and they had struck up conversation on more than one occasion. The subject of Silent Hill came up much by chance, and the only reason the less than pleasant aspects of Silent Hill ever came up was because Laura happened to mention it in passing one day. She meant it is as joke, but the door opened and the next thing they knew, Travis and James were discussing the differences between the monsters they'd seen.

[-]

Travis had picked up a hitchhiking Alex and then dropped him off in Shepherd's Glen back in 2007. Alex tracked Travis down some time after escaping Silent Hill and had outright demanded an explanation for the bullshit he had seen, because he and Travis had had a long conversation about the Silent Hill-area (which Travis was apparently knowledgeable about) when they rode together for a time. A gnawing curiosity, a need to know, to _understand_ had gripped him and Elle, and he figured Travis would be a good place to start.

[-]

Murphy had been picked up by Travis just outside of Silent Hill, after returning to the shore-side with Anne. Being an allegedly-dead fugitive, he was bunking with Travis. A sort of kinship had been forged between them from the knowledge that they had both survived Silent Hill (and didn't even get lousy t-shirts for it). Travis- amongst quiet and flat but profuse thanks from Murphy- assured the younger man that he was welcome to stay and get back on his feet.

[-]

The only people who didn't meet everyone else through Travis were Henry and Eileen. They met James through Frank, and Travis through James. Frank had suggested that they discuss Silent Hill, since it seemed to be a shared experience between the three of them. One conversation led to another, Walter Sullivan was brought up, and the rest was history.

[-]

Somewhere along the line, Travis got around to mentioning to Cheryl just how many people had been through the non-tourist side of Silent Hill.

And she got to thinking.

[-]

"What did you have in mind?"

Cheryl tapped her fingers on the table pensively, eyes flipping between Travis and Douglas. "Something like a… Support network."

Douglas's hand froze, pepper-shaker suspended over his omelet. "A support-network." He repeated.

"Right."  
"Small problem."

"Yeah?"

"Most people aren't going to be too okay with discussing this kind of thing in any sort of public forum. Most people have the impression that seriously discussing this kind of thing could land them in a padded cell and a very snug jacket."

Cheryl gave him a pointed look. "We already have people who are apparently okay with sharing their experiences with like-minded people. And we can just have our Silent-Hill-Antenna-of-Weirdness-" She nodded to Travis, who inclined his head towards her gracefully, "-keep an eye out for anyone else who looks like they might have 'seen things, man'."

Douglas shrugged and gave his pepper-shaker another twitch before setting it down. Travis kneaded his knuckles for a moment, considering. It certainly wasn't the worst idea he had ever heard of. "Guess it could work. We're not spread out too far, right? Murphy and I are in New Hampshire, Alex and his gang are in Vermont, Henry, Eileen and the Sunderlands are in Mass, and you guys are in Maine. Contact shouldn't be a problem."

"Right!" Cheryl said, eyes widening and nodding eagerly. "That's why I was thinking that we could all meet together in one place a few times, get to know one another. That way, if anyone ever has any-" She stopped abruptly, and then lowered her voice. "…problems, they have others who know what they're going through."

Problems, Travis knew, like nightmares. Or hallucinations. Or the tendency to jump and scream when you heard metal-on-metal, and avoiding places that looked unusually rusty or industrial. Or staying in places where there were a lot of people and as little fog as humanly possible (such a shame they all lived in the Northeast). And those were just the problems you got _from_ Silent Hill, never mind the ones that landed you there in the first place.

"So how about it, Travis? Will you call everyone?"

Travis nodded. "Eh, why not? Don't see the harm it would do in just checking to see if anyone's interested."

[-]

Wheeler shook his head.

"Girl's got ambition, I'll give her that. Elle's the same way. Ten bucks says she's onboard the second I tell her."

Travis chuckled and shook his head. "No way, Jim. I'll take your word for it."

Wheeler leaned back in the chair, glancing out the window of Travis's apartment. It was a gray kind of day. "So where exactly is Mason planning on hosting this little get-together, a church? Beach shack? Cabin in the woods? Someone got a summer home we can go to?"

"The hell if anyone going to this meeting has that kind of money."

"You and Murphy, the four of us, those four from Massachusetts, Mason and Cartland- That's twelve people, Travis; all of which have been to Silent-Creepy-As-All-Fuck-Hill, and nine of us who have had direct contact with and _pissed off_ those sun-worshipping lunatics. You think bringing us all together in one place is a good idea when they could be _watching?_ "

Normally Travis might have dismissed Wheeler's paranoia (God knew he had enough of it to start a dozen or so conspiracy-based websites), but it was a legitimate concern- especially for himself, Elle and the Shepherd boys, given that Alex was the reason Shepherd's Glen was in its current state.

"Well," Travis sighed. "Given that I'm the one who originally pissed them off, I could always wave my arms and yell 'I'm Travis Grady!' at the top of my lungs. You guys can am-scray while they're beating the shit out of me."

Wheeler rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying that if we're doing this, then we need to make sure it's in a safe place." He scowled. "One that can't be bugged."

"We'll find a place, Jim, don't you worry. Cheryl's resourceful like that. Are you expecting a call, Murph?" He leaned over and Wheeler turned around. Murphy was looking at them, but a second before he had been involved in a fairly serious staring-contest with Travis's phone.

"No."

Wheeler snorted. Travis smirked. "You sure about that?"

"Yes."

Wheeler rolled his eyes back to the trucker. "Well, I say we go get a beer and leave those two alone." Murphy gave Wheeler a flat look as he and Travis rose from their seats at the kitchen table.

"We'll be back soon." Travis assured, and chuckled when Murphy gave a grumbled, incoherent response. The man wasn't much for chit-chat and likely did not enjoy implications that he had feelings for a telephone.

"You _sure_ he didn't kill anybody?" Wheeler asked, only speaking once they had left the complex and were on the sidewalk.

"For the… Wait, let me count… _Thirty-second time_ , Jim, Murphy did not kill anyone. He did, apparently, beat the ever-loving hell out of a pedophilic baby-murderer- which in my humble opinion should have gotten him an instant pardon- but he didn't kill anyone." Wheeler left it alone. He knew what Murphy had done to Patrick Napier, but he also knew what Napier had done to Murphy's son. In the grand scheme of terrible things a person could do, both he and Jim had seen worse. "He's been acting kind of weird, though."

"Oh _really?_ "

Travis rolled his eyes. "Weirder than you seem to think is usual. That's not the first time I caught him staring at the phone."

"Who'd he be calling? Everyone he knew thinks he's a murderer."

"His ex-wife, maybe? That's what I assume, anyway, though apparently she dumped him real hard when he got thrown into prison." Wheeler started to laugh. "That's funny?"

"Man, this whole situation is funny- in a sad way. You're harboring a fugitive, I'm living with a kid who actually died eight years ago, Mason's the reincarnation of some little psychic girl- And I thought I was paranoid before!"

"Oh, don't worry- You're still paranoid as hell."

Wheeler became serious. "Hey now- I think after everything that's happened the phrase 'just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you' is more relevant than ever."

"I'll give you that one." They walked a little further, and Travis thought it might be better to sew up the conversation before they went to a place where people could overhear them. "So how about it, Jim? You gonna play ball?"

Wheeler blew out a contemplative breath, slowing to a stop and jamming his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Don't suppose I can avoid it… Elle _will_ probably jump on board. Alex will do it because she'll do it, and Josh will do it because the both of them are doing it."  
"And what, you're their designated babysitter?"

Wheeler smiled. "Nah. We just stick together now: If we didn't have each other, we wouldn't have much." He stiffened, and then pointed at Travis threateningly. "Those words will never be repeated again, Grady. Got it? I have a shotgun. I _will_ end you."

Travis laughed and clapped Wheeler on the shoulder. "Whatever you say, Jim. Whatever you say."

[-]

"So… How is he alive, then?"

Travis shrugged. "Alex says he went upstairs and just found him sitting on the bed, like he'd always been there."

James twisted the plastic cover on his coffee cup pensively. He was on his break, sitting with Travis on the back steps of the hardware store; they had already unloaded the boxes, a shipment of screwdrivers and various nuts and bolts. "Even though he was definitely dead?"

"Apparently. For obvious reasons I didn't really try to dig into it." Josh was alive, and that was all that Alex (and Elle and Wheeler) cared about. Travis did not much feel like prying into a subject that had apparently had such a profound effect on Alex's psyche that it had landed him in a mental institution for four years.

James was quiet for a while after that, and Travis kept his mouth shut here too: He knew about Mary, and more importantly about Mary's death. He'd known James long and well enough to know that he was probably meditating on how nice it would have been to bring Mary home from Silent Hill, alive and well. How nice it would have been to retrieve what he had lost, what he had loved the most.

After maybe five minutes of silence, Travis checked his watch. It was just about time for him to leave, and he still needed to get a yes or no about the meeting. "So, the, uh- group therapy session. You in?"

James huffed a laugh. "How do you think they're going to feel about a guy who killed his wife?"

"I think a good portion of the people who will be there aren't in a position to judge. We're all human, we've all done… Regrettable things."

"That's one way of putting it." The blonde muttered.

"Are you in?"

James shrugged. "I'll see if I can't get Laura in on it. Can't leave her alone, not after the last time."

"Yeah, yeah. How many plants caught on fire again?"

"It was the garden. The _entire_ garden. I checked with her teacher, and no, he did _not_ suggest a re-creation of slash-and-burn farming." Travis fell into helpless snickering, slapping a hand over his eyes.

"That girl. How many gray hairs has she given you now?"

"I've lost count." James groaned, downing the rest of his coffee in one swoop. Once he had swallowed, he gave a slow nod and repeated, "I'll see if I can't get her to agree to come. Want me to call up Henry and Eileen?"

"I'd appreciate it. I don't seem to have their number."

"Do you have mine?"

"I do. Cheryl's made me the official ambassador to Massachusetts and Vermont, so I'm collecting everyone's numbers. If Henry and Eileen are interested, could you ask them to give me a call?"

"Sure thing." James crushed his cup and took a deep breath. Travis observed the younger man with some sadness: James was thirty-seven, but he had the general appearance and conduct of someone much older. Silent Hill, his guilt over Mary and the work of raising Laura alone had worn him down over the years. Maybe having a place and a group of people to talk to would do him some good.

Travis gestured towards his truck before patting James on the shoulder. "I'll talk to you later, James. Don't let Laura give you an ulcer, all right?"

" _Another_ ulcer." James corrected with a sardonic grin.

[-]

Travis picked up the phone to call Douglas, but a sudden epiphany told him that he hadn't checked for any messages, and he _was_ expecting Henry Townshend or Eileen Galvin to call with their numbers.

He pressed a button, and on the screen a number popped up: **207-555-2925**. Above it read **WINDHAM ME**.

Travis frowned. It was possible that it was just a telemarketer, but the time-stamp on the screen said that the call had come in the day before, **9/17 2:04 PM** \- and he happened to recall, yesterday afternoon, Murphy being right next to the phone around that time. Travis had left around 1:50 to pick something up at the corner-store.

Now, if Murphy hadn't recently been caught staring at the phone a number of different times over the past two weeks, Travis may have stuck by his telemarketer theory. But because he had, Travis developed an alternate one: Murphy had tried to call someone; they either didn't pick up, or he had hung up before they could. And then the person maybe checked their own caller-ID and dialed the number back.

Yes, that sounded likely.

When Murphy came home about an hour later from the garage he had managed to get a job at, Travis pounced.

"Were you calling someone?"

Murphy's expression went blank, and he folded his arms over his chest. "No."

"Because I don't care if you call anyone, Murphy, I really don't."

"I wasn't calling anyone."

Jesus H. Christ: The man was a crap liar, but he just denied and denied and denied until he was blue in the face. "Okay then, who were you _not_ calling?"

"I didn't call anyone, Travis." Murphy was already turning away, heading towards the bathroom as he undid the first two buttons on his shirt. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower and scrub away the scent of motor-oil."

"If you had any experience as a mechanic you would know that smell never goes away!" Travis called after him, raising his voice as the younger man got further away and eventually disappeared into the bathroom.

In all honesty, Travis _didn't_ care if Murphy had called someone; the man was smart enough not to do anything that would get him thrown into prison again. Maybe Travis was just turning into a busy-body (though precedent might suggest that he had always been one), but he was simply curious as to who it was Murphy was calling and why he was so hell-bent on keeping it secret.

[-]

"This is it."

Cheryl pushed open the door, holding it so that Travis could follow in behind her. They were in the basement of a church in New Hampshire- somewhere in or near Concord, Travis honestly didn't know where the town or city lines were. Geographically, it was the epicenter of everyone's homes, almost an equal distance from each place to get there, so no one really had to travel an unreasonable amount of time to get there.

The room itself was one of many smaller rooms that encircled a larger, empty room. It had a table, and room for people to sit around it; it wasn't like they needed much space, they weren't hosting an exercise class or anything.

Cheryl turned to face Travis once she had reached the head of the table. "So… What do you think?"

Travis shrugged, looking around the room. "Suitable."

"Suitable."

"Suitable." He reaffirmed. "Unless you were planning a cage-fight, in which case it may be a bit too narrow." Cheryl gave him a flat look.

"Go on Comedy Central with that act."

"I would if they'd have me!"

Cheryl plopped down in a seat, leaning back and stretching her legs out as much as the space would allow. Her eyes scanned the room, and as they lingered on the ceiling she asked, "Do you think this is a good idea?"

Travis glanced at the young woman, and looked away when she didn't return it. "It's not a bad one."

"I just…" Cheryl pursed her lips, eyes narrowed. "I mean, I don't really know how we're going to _do_ this. Most everyone knows you, but… We're asking people to bond over what are probably some of the most traumatic memories of their lives."

"Seems to work for other group-therapy sessions. Ours is just a little more… Creepy."

"Like we all went to a Halloween party that went terribly, terribly wrong."

"Essentially." Travis folded his hands on his lap. "Assuming all goes well with the first few meetings, everyone will probably start to get more comfortable with one another. God knows I'm not going to be blurting out all the shit from my past that Alessa dredged up when I went to the place."

"Did I ever apologize to you for that?" Cheryl asked dryly. She had, several times, usually whenever the subject of Alessa (pre-split) came up. The apologies were typically pretty wry, bordering on funny, but Travis had detected in every, single one of them a note of pure seriousness: Cheryl was genuinely sorry for Alessa's manipulation of him all those years ago. And Travis had assured her on about half of those occasions, very seriously, that he didn't blame her in the slightest.

Now, he felt, was not a time he needed to reiterate that.

"Yeah. Doesn't mean I have to forgive you though, you crazy brat." Cheryl hesitated, but then her mouth twisted into a grin.

"The hell with you then, old man: I don't need your forgiveness."

Travis settled more heavily into the chair with a hearty chuckle. "Ah… This is gonna be fun."


	2. Gathering

"So what are we doing, singing kumbaya and toasting marshmallows or some shit?"

" _Laura._ "

"I'm just saying, I'm not sure I see the point of this."

"You could say it without the cursing."

"Oh ho, clearly you don't know me yet."

"I know you well enough to know that Homecoming's in two weeks that you won't be going to if you don't behave yourself." James retorted evenly, and relaxing when Laura gave him a dirty look and fell silent.

Travis saw Cheryl's already reserved smile weaken a bit at Laura's words. She was the only one standing, placed at the head of the table and looking around at everyone. "Well, uh- I didn't want to look like a control-freak, so I didn't really come up with a schedule or anything. I figured we could just start by introducing ourselves?"

"Name, age, and date you lost your sanity." Douglas suggested dryly. Cheryl shot him a look and kicked him under the table.

"What if we were never fully sane to begin with?" Josh inquired, hand raised.

"Good question- I like you, kid." Laura said immediately, a mischievous grin unfurling across her face.

" _Run_ , kid, run and don't look back!" Travis suggested with a chortle.

"Why don't you start, Cheryl? You seem to be the- leader of this." Eileen suggested with a smile. Cheryl's smile flickered into a wince, but took the suggestion with grace.

"Unless there are any objections…? Okay then. My name is Cheryl Mason. I'm twenty-eight. I was… Born in Silent Hill, and went through the not-so-nice part of it back in 2000 after the Order killed my father." Her mouth tightened. Understandably, Travis knew that Cheryl had never quite lost the bitterness she had held for the Order regarding her father's death and… Well, the laundry list of other things they had done to her.

Everyone looked very serious, but strangely, not uncomfortable. Well, no, wait- Laura looked a bit uncomfortable, but of everyone seated at the table, Travis was reasonably certain that she was the only one who hadn't been damaged in some way by Silent Hill. He was curious if Laura would continue coming to the meetings after this; he was starting getting the feeling that she didn't deal well with heavy subjects.

"I'll go next." Douglas offered. "Douglas Cartland, sixty-something years old." Cheryl rolled her eyes, and he snickered at her. "I first went to Silent Hill when she did." He motioned to Cheryl, and half fond, half dry smile. Then he turned to his left, where James was sitting. "Next?"

James cleared his throat and shifted uneasily. "James Sunderland, thirty-seven. I went to Silent Hill in 2003, when I got a letter from my… My dead wife, Mary." Actually saying out loud something that would have gotten him looks anywhere else must have been an experience for him, and he appeared to relax when nobody seemed particularly perturbed by that information.

"Laura Sunderland. I'm sixteen, and I went to Silent Hill around the same time that James did. Didn't see any monsters, though; except James, of course. And that freak that killed the dog."

"We'll probably end up explaining that at some point." James assured, eyes rolled to the ceiling.

Henry was next, but he stayed quiet until Laura turned and nudged him. "Oh- I'm Henry. Townshend. I'm thirty-one." He chewed his lip for a moment. "In 2004, my apartment kind of got… Possessed, and I was trapped inside. The only way out was through a hole in my bathroom wall that led to Silent Hill, and- It's a long story."

Eileen smiled at the group. "I'm Eileen Galvin, I'm twenty-nine, and I went to Silent Hill around the same time Henry did. It _is_ a long story."

"Reasonably certain that everyone here has a long story." Elle assured with a thin smile. There were nods from just about everyone.

"Well, you can tell ours then: Jim Wheeler, fifty-three, former Deputy of Police in Shepherd's Glen. Everyone calls me Wheeler." Wheeler said, leaning back in his seat.

"Josh Shepherd, twelve, former resident of Shepherd's Glen. I'm supposed to be sixteen, but-!" Josh waved his hands at them, and on cue, Eileen and Henry smiled and said,

"Long story."

"Yup." Josh grinned at Laura before tipping her a huge, cheesy wink. "We're the same age, babe."

Laura snorted. "Not a chance, shrimp." Josh slapped both hands over his heart as though wounded, and the reactions around the room varied between smirks and outright snickers.

"Elle Holloway, twenty-six." Elle said when the noise died down. "We- the four of us- are all from Shepherd's Glen. It was pretty normal-"

"-until the Fire Nation attacked." Josh finished with a solemn nod. Laura burst out cackling, but judging from their expressions, no one else in the room seemed to get the reference.

Elle rolled her eyes, and then continued. "For those who don't know, Shepherd's Glen is Silent Hill's sister-town. We-" She gestured to Alex, Josh and herself. "-are descent from the founders of the town, who had broken off from the Order to settle elsewhere. We managed to avoid all of the… Weirdness until 2003."

"And that's all you get to hear of it unless you deposit twenty-five cents. Per person." Alex said. "Alex Shepherd, also twenty-six. Josh's brother."

"We'll save that for another meeting." Travis said with an easy, dry smile. "Wouldn't want to get to all of the good stuff in one night." He then turned to Murphy and gave the man a little bump with his elbow. "Your turn."

Murphy grimaced. "Great." He took a deep, deep breath. "Murphy Pendleton. Thirty-four. Went to Silent Hill in March." It did not escape Travis's notice that Murphy said his name a little quietly and quickly; it was probably a deliberate tactic, not wanting anyone to hear exactly what it was so that they couldn't, maybe, Google him later and figure out who he was.

"You are a _sunny_ character, aren't you Randle?" Laura remarked dryly, and for a moment, Murphy's generally flat expression broke.

"Oh, right, because no one's ever made a Randle McMurphy joke before. Very original." He snorted.

"Just saw the movie last week!" Laura chirped.

"You're up last, Travis. Tell us who you are, for the… Two of us who don't already know."

Travis nodded to Henry and Eileen. "Travis Grady, sixty-one. I went to Silent Hill in 1976, and I know everyone in this room except you two."

"Nice to meet you." Eileen said with a warm smile, and Henry gave a little nod and a wave.

"And that's everyone." Cheryl said brightly. "Awesome."

"Is it marshmallow time? I don't know if the church will smile upon us starting a fire in here-"

"We already went over how you're not allowed to be near lighters or ignition fluid. Not after the chem.-lab incident." Travis was seriously starting to wonder how James hadn't gone completely gray yet.

"First of all, I already told you that I did not get fire on his jacket: He got his jacket on my fire." Laura insisted, and Josh broke into hysterical, breathless laughter that left him doubled-over in his seat. "Second of all, I'm horrified that you lack faith in my innovative skills. I can start a fire without a lighter."

"You are a _terrifying_ child." Wheeler remarked, staring at the blonde girl with growing horror. "Mason, kindly redirect before my heart gives out."

"Right." Cheryl began, standing a bit so that she could fold a leg under her and boost herself up in her chair. "I was thinking that we could kind of operate under a…" She gave a comical wince. "…A sort of group-therapy 'what we say in the group stays in the group' agreement, given that the nature of what we discuss could be considered…" She waved her hand vaguely.

"Damning?" Henry suggested.

"Bat-shit crazy?" Murphy muttered.

"Either is acceptable. And- well, for example, who here may have resorted to some… Shall we say, less-than-legal activities in the process of defending themselves or others?" Cheryl raised her hand, and after a moment, most everyone in the room raised their hand as well.

"Does failing to report a murder count as a crime?" Josh inquired.

"I… Don't think so."

The twelve year-old folded his hands on his lap and smiled. "Then I am clean."

James, meanwhile, was side-eying his adopted daughter. "Why is your hand raised? You were a kid; you didn't do anything illegal in Silent Hill."

Laura blinked at him sweetly. "That I've told you."

"We're all- well, most of us are adults." Eileen said. "I think we'll be fine."

"It's not just a matter of not sharing stories," Douglas said, expression growing solemn. "It's names and locations. Some of you don't have that much of a connection with Silent Hill anymore, but the rest of us do. We can't go telling random people each other's full names and where we live. It's not safe."

"So… This meeting never happened?" Alex asked, slowly sliding his can of Coke back and forth between his hands on the tabletop.

"Anything Silent Hill-related strictly stays between all of us in confidence." Douglas responded. "And we don't mention last names or where anyone in this room lives- not even by state."

"Hell yes." Wheeler grunted. "Any objections? In which case, you can get the hell out right now?"

No one said a word.

Travis scanned the faces in the room. Most were pretty hard to read- everyone seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation, though whether or not everyone was clear on the potential consequences for letting something slip was unsure. Again, though, it seemed that Laura was the odd one out: The sarcasm, the wit had melted away and she once again looked very uncomfortable amongst the otherwise very solemn group.

Meanwhile, Cheryl nodded. "All right then. We're agreed. Ice-breaker activity, anyone?" There was a half-joking lilt to her voice, but evidently not everyone caught it.

"And _that_ -" Laura said, quickly standing up. "-is my cue to hit the vending machine on the corner. I've had enough ice-breaker activities in school to last me a lifetime. Shorty- you coming?"

"Most certainly! Maybe they've got Moxie." Josh grinned, looking more eager to be in Laura's company than he was to necessarily leave the adults.

"Within ten minutes." James warned. "Seriously, Laura, or I'm going to come looking."

"Right, right, we'll be fine." Laura grabbed Josh by the shoulders and steered him out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

After a moment, after they had heard the kids' footsteps recede, James cleared his throat. "If, uh- If Laura offended or offends anyone, I'm really, really sorry."

"It's all right, James."

"It's just Laura didn't actually… _Experience_ Silent Hill the same way I did." James said. "Which I'm, you know, thankful for- she was only eight. She knows the town was weird, and she knows there were monsters because I and-" He winced. "…Other people told her about them, but she never actually _saw_ them, so I don't know if she really understands why this is such a big deal."

"I think it's a kid-thing." Cheryl mused, head propped up on her hands. "Silent Hill is dark and bad and… Evil-y. Kids are innocent."

"Somehow, associating Laura with the word 'innocent' seems unnatural to me." Douglas muttered.

"My point is that kids don't perceive Silent Hill the same way adults do. Did Josh see any monsters?"

"Nope. But, uh- his situation was kind of unique." Alex kept his eyes on his Coke.

"On that note," Eileen said, raising her hand slightly like an uncertain student. "What exactly is the… Plan for these meetings? Are we going to have a topic of discussion every week, or are we going to take turns talking about what we did when we were there?"

"I was thinking we could leave that up to everyone." Cheryl looked around the room. "I mean, I'm under the impression that no one is overly-eager to jump right into sharing anything and everything."

"Got that right." Murphy spoke low enough that Travis seemed to be the only one who heard him.

"Did anyone want to share this week? You don't have to. I mean, a big part of this meeting was just to establish contacts with other people so that if you ever _did_ just want to talk you would know someone who could sympathize and whatnot. Don't feel obliged. I mean, hell, we can all bring in Pokémon cards and compare collections if you want, I don't care."

Travis gave Cheryl's chair a little nudge with his foot. When she turned to him, the trucker gave her a brief look: _You're rambling_ , it said.

"Oh. Right. I mean- We can do whatever you guys want." Cheryl then shut her mouth, folded her hands on her lap and smiled.

"Maybe we could… Come up with things to talk about from week to week, just general things about Silent Hill." Travis suggested. "And then if anyone feels like putting their own two personal cents in, they can."

"I like that idea." James said.

"Likewise." Henry agreed, and murmurs of assent were heard around the room after.

"So… Topics." Eileen began pensively. "Monsters?"

"What kind of places we saw?" Alex recommended.

"The general weirdness." James snorted.

"Hold up-" Cheryl reached down and dug around in her bag until she came with a pen and notepad. She scribbled down the suggestions and then nodded. "Anything else?"

"We could all wear tinfoil hats and ramble forever about how and why Silent Hill is the way that it is." Elle sighed.

"History- History of the town, anything we may have found or already know." Henry piped up.

"I think," And Travis had a feeling that he knew where Wheeler was going to go when the other man lowered his voice, "That while we're talking about the history of the town, we should start putting some pieces together about that cult. The more we know about them, the better."

"Amen." Alex grumbled, taking another swig of his soda.

Cheryl looked over the list. "That's… Six different topics. We'll probably end up splitting those conspiracy-theories about the town and cult over a few different meetings, so let's say we have nine or ten different meetings covered." She smiled. "That was fast."

"So today is just meet and greet? Getting to know one another?" James inquired.

"If that's what everyone wants."

Suddenly, the sound of Laura spitting and coughing loudly and Josh cackling maniacally could be heard from the larger room outside, quickly followed by- "Son of a _whore!_ That is _awful!_ Why the hell didn't you warn me?"

"Laura, watch your language!" James called.

They heard Josh snicker. "Yeah Laura, watch your motherfucking language!"

It was later discovered that of all of them, James was the only one who had ever seen someone spray a beverage out of their nose when laughing. He did confess, however, that Alex had most certainly broken the record for distance of the spray.

[-]

This time, Travis walked in while Murphy had the phone to his ear.

He stopped, froze, and waited silently. Murphy was still as stone, and his knuckles looked white as he gripped the handset. Someone picked up: The volume on the phone was just loud enough that Travis could tell the voice was a woman.

" _Hello?_ "

Murphy hung up. Just slammed the phone onto the receiver and moved to the other side of the couch like he thought it was going to attack him. He almost fell off the seat when Travis cleared his throat.

"Hey Murph."

"Hi Travis." His voice was tight.

"You finally going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Not if I don't have to."

"Was it Carol?"

Murphy jerked as though Travis had slapped him, and Travis realized that perhaps he had erred in his assumptions regarding who Murphy had been calling. "Why would you think it was Carol?"

"I don't know who else you would be calling."

Murphy rubbed his eyes. "Right," Travis heard him mutter. "You would." He lifted his head and took a deep breath. "It's not. Carol- She wouldn't want me calling her. She wants nothing to do to me, and calling her would be putting her in a position to turn me in, and- It wasn't her."

Travis made a face as he circled around the couch to face Murphy. _Oops._ "Then who was it?"

Murphy cleared his throat and glanced away. "Anne Cunningham."

The name didn't ring a bell at first, but then Travis remembered: She was the cop that had chased Murphy through Silent Hill, the one whose father Murphy had been accused of beating half to death. "Oh… You- Oh, you wanted to call her about the meetings?"

Murphy nodded. "Why'd you hang up, then?"

Murphy shrugged. "Guess I didn't want to bother her."

"This is bothering her?"

"Me being alive could get her fired, you know." His tone had a defensive edge to it, and his eyes were narrowed. "Never mind fired, it could land her in prison if the wrong people start to suspect she was lying."

"What did she tell them?"

"That I fell into the Devil's Pit. It's deep and wide enough that they might not be able to find any evidence of someone falling into it, but I don't know." His shoulders sank, and he began to pick at a loose thread on the couch. "I've already screwed up her life enough. I'd rather not risk doing it again."

"I was under the impression that it was that Sewell guy what beat her father half to death."

"It was my fault."

The look Travis gave him was deadpanned. "Because he certainly would have given up on the idea of doing Frank in if you had refused from the beginning, in spite of the fact that Frank was threatening his career and, effectively, his life. No, he would never have found another stooge with less moral scruples than yourself to do the job. Surely he would have simply sat back and twiddled his thumbs like a good little boy and let Frank drag his ass through the mud." He was pretty sure the sarcasm dripping from his voice was eating a hole in the floor.

"All right, all _right_."

"I thought your Amazing Silent Hill Adventure taught you to let go of guilt."

"I-" Murphy shut his eyes. "It's difficult. Logically, I know that you're right: If it hadn't been me, Sewell would have gotten someone else to do the deed. But he _did_ use me, and he did it because I was too selfish to care what else happened so long as I got a chance at Napier, and too stupid to realize that Sewell might be corrupt enough to ask me to do something I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do. Because it _was_ me, I had a chance to save Frank and couldn't."

Murphy's sentence ended on an off note, and Travis got the idea that he meant to say something more. Given what he knew about Murphy, it was probably something along the lines of 'Just like how I couldn't save Charlie.'

"I _know_ I can't change it, I _know_ I have to live with it and move on." The younger man restlessly rose from the couch and wrung his hands. "Contacting Anne- If I do that and somehow manage to cause her trouble, I'm going to look back and kick myself for making the decision that I did, just like I look back and kick myself for ever getting involved with Sewell. Silent Hill taught me a very valuable lesson in thinking about the potential consequences of what I do as well."

Travis couldn't argue with that- at least, not entirely. Murphy had openly admitted that he had always been prone to making mistakes, even before what happened to Charlie; when you had a Silent Hill-Style 'Think Before You Act' kind of lesson thrown in your face, Travis would imagine that it might start to make you think very, very carefully about the kinds of choices you made. All the same, he seriously doubted that the FBI had Cunningham's phone tapped.

"Look…" Travis drew in a deep breath, trying to find the right words. "Silent Hill… It… Kind of has a way of forcing you to deal with your demons. Though honestly I can't figure out if it wants you to fail or succeed, because people can just as easily get torn apart in that place as they can get stronger. But take it from someone whose sleeping habits have been screwed over for the last thirty-five years: Your old demons may be dealt with, but you get a whole slew of new ones just for stepping over the threshold in that place. I'm thinking that you're already starting to get a feel for that."

When Murphy didn't respond, Travis pressed on. "All I'm saying is that she- Anne? Is dealing with not only the truth of her father's death, but everything she saw in that town as well- which was probably just as bad as, if not worse, than what you experienced. If she- and you- start to deal with this now, then twenty years from now you may not have to become paranoid old farts like myself."

Murphy snorted. "You? Paranoid?"

"I do not broadcast my paranoia loud and proud like Jim Wheeler does, but I do have it." Travis's smirk faded. "Just give her a call, Murph. Let her decide whether she wants to take the risk or not. You may be glad you did."


	3. Assortment

"So… Monsters?"

"We going around the circle?"

"Anyone who wants to go can go."

There was a moment of hesitation, born mostly from politeness rather than a reluctance to share. Finally- to Travis's surprise- it was Murphy that spoke up first. The ex-con cleared his throat, lowered his eyes (always the trouble with eye-contact, the only people he didn't have a problem with were Travis and Wheeler).

"Well… There were these- They looked like people, actually. I thought the first one I saw was just a woman. They had this… Long, stringy hair, sharp teeth, really _messed-up_ faces; the only thing really normal about them were their eyes. The eyes looked normal. The skin was all…" Murphy wrinkled his nose and waved a hand. "…burned-looking, sort of, and they had these claws that could cut you to ribbons if you didn't move fast enough." Travis knew that Murphy had a set of slash-marks on his back from those claws.

"Were those the ones that screamed?" He asked, and Murphy groaned.

"Yeah. They screamed- sometimes it was a kind of creepy high-pitched scream, other times it was this really, really _painful_ screeching noise. Instant-migraine kind of screeching. I saw a lot of those." Travis thought about prodding him to talk about the sex-doll monster, but then realized that that might be an unwelcome topic while a twelve year-old and sixteen year-old were present.

When it was clear that Murphy had finished, Henry spoke up. "There were these dog-monsters with really just- their skin looked like it had rotted through, and their tongues were ridiculously long."

"Zombie-dogs?" Laura piped up.

Henry's smile was genuine, but weak with what Travis assumed was disgust. "Yeah, something like that."

"We had those too." Alex said. "Not really zombie-dogs, but they either didn't have skin, or it was see-through. You could see all the muscle and bones and organs and whatnot, but I don't think they had eyes; not that I saw, anyway. They could smell just fine, though. And run. And bite." His expression soured.

"I third the dog-monster sighting." Cheryl sighed. "There were these dog-creatures that had their heads split in half, and they were all bloody and bandaged and just-" She frowned and waved her hands. "I'm not crazy about dogs already, and encountering them in Silent Hell only made that worse."

"You don't like dogs?" Josh sounded scandalized.

"Well, _some_ dogs are fine. I like those short ones with the long, floppy ears." Cheryl confessed.

"Beagles?"

"No, no, the ones with the really long faces."

"Basset hounds?" Eileen suggested, and Cheryl snapped her fingers.

"Basset hounds, yeah. They're cute."

"Anyone else with monster-dog sightings?"

"I saw two German Shepherds when I was there." Murphy offered.

"Really? What happened to them?" Josh inquired. Something flickered across Murphy's face.

"They ran away from me." Travis silently translated that to 'They Were Eaten By Monsters, And I'm Taking Pity On The Kid By Not Saying It'.

"So, if we're talking about monsters," Laura was leaning back in her chair, rocking it onto the back two legs. "Do I get to mention that fat-fuck Eddie?"

" _Laura._ "

"That whacko tried to kill you! I wouldn't think you'd be the first one defending him!"

"Eddie had issues."

"Everyone in this _room_ has issues, and I seriously doubt any of them shot a dog for shits and giggles." Josh proceeded to look absolutely horrified, and Travis shared a look with Murphy; so much for not traumatizing the kid.

"Actually, that's something I wanted to suggest." Douglas said. "James said last time that he met other people in Silent Hill. Anyone else?"

Just about everyone- Laura included, this time- raised their hands. "New topic of discussion for another week?" Eileen ventured.

"Certainly." Cheryl agreed, pulling out her notebook again.

After she had written that down, there was another brief pause in which a silent decision of who would speak next was made. Eventually, James decided to take up the conversation. "Ah… There was this one monster that followed me around in Silent Hill. It was this big, big… _Big_ human-like one. I mean, seven or eight feet tall. It had this- well, I don't know if it was a helmet or if it was its actual _head_ , but it was kind of a pyramid-shaped thing. And it had this huge, long sword, and it could have been just as tall as this character, I don't know. Are you all right?"

Everyone turned to look at Alex, who had gone very, very pale. "You saw it too? The-" He stopped short.

"The what?"

When Alex didn't respond, Elle hesitantly continued. "In Shepherd's Glen, we had this… Thing. A rhyme our parents would tell us about the Bogeyman, and how he would come and drag bad children to hell, cut our tongues out, stretch our skin till it snaps, rips our guts out…" She looked a little green. "We never saw it, just Alex. But apparently that monster fits the rhyme pretty well."

Everyone was quiet as they processed that. Travis was appropriately horrified, of course, but not especially surprised: He knew that Alex, Josh and Elle's parents had been descent from followers of the Order, and anyone who associated closely enough with the Order or its beliefs to actually even _briefly_ consider murdering their children probably did not have all of their marbles in one jar.

Laura was the first to speak up. "Look, no offense to you guys, but your parents were _fucked up_ if they told you that stuff."

"Oh sweetheart, you have no idea." Wheeler drawled.

"I need to take a walk." Alex said, pushing back his chair and standing up. A moment after he had left the room, James stood up as well.

"Think I'll see if he's all right." He muttered, following after the younger man. Once he had gone, Eileen decided to pick back up on the subject of monsters.

"We had ghosts." She stated, folding her hands on the table and looking around.

"Ghosts of who?" Laura asked.

"Victims of a dead serial-killer that was chasing us around Silent Hill." Henry, Travis had found, could be very difficult to read: The man generally did not show his emotions too readily (the most Travis had seen was shyness) or even talk much, and it was often hard to tell if he was being as serious as was typical of him or going for some kind of deadpanned humor.

"That does sound like a long story." Josh remarked, tugging at the strings on his orange sweatshirt.

"You know something that just occurred to me? Each and every one of you could write this shit down and call it fiction, and you would probably make millions." Laura said. "So do it. Just do it. And then you can have a really macabre laugh at the people who coo over how _original_ it is and ask how you ever dreamt it up."

"Night after night of nightmares, that's how." Travis snorted. "Actually, to just get this out there before Alex and James come back, I saw a monster like that one they mentioned when I was there. Big, big thing, human body, mask over half its face."

"What did the other half look like?" Laura inquired.

Travis shrugged. "Nothing. It had a nose and a hole where the ear was supposed to be, but no other features."

"So like Slender, but with a helmet and a hole in his head?"

"You know Slender. _You know Slender!_ _Why_ won't you go out with me?" Josh squeaked desperately, splaying his arms across the table beseechingly at the older girl.

"Are we supposed to understand what you two are talking about?" Henry asked.

Elle waved her arms and shook her head. "Alex, Wheeler and I live with this kid and we still don't understand. Give up now: It will save you so many headaches."

"Okay, hands up: Who had some variation of a nurse or other medical professional as a monster?" Cheryl questioned, and once again, almost every hand shot up.

"Does that include patients? We saw some monsters in the hospital, but they didn't look like doctors or nurses." Eileen said.

"Patients are acceptable." Cheryl clarified.

Henry and Eileen both raised their hands. As it was, Murphy and Laura were the only ones with their hands down, and Laura didn't necessarily count as she hadn't been able to see any monsters. "No nurses, Murphy?" Wheeler remarked.

"Nope. No hospitals." The other man shrugged. "The closest I came to one was a monastery, and that was-" Murphy's expression went dark. "…That was an experience on its own."

"Oh, speaking of hospitals…" Eileen gave Henry a little nudge. It took him a moment, but then he seemed to see what she was getting at and groaned.

"Oh no, really? I had just forgotten about those."

"Wheelchairs." Eileen said promptly. "Wheelchairs. We were attacked by empty wheelchairs."

"Were there ghosts in the wheelchairs, or what?" Josh asked, baffled.

"Nope. Just wheelchairs."

"It was like getting hit by someone on a bike. I do not know why it hurt as badly as it did." Henry said, rubbing his face. "It was seven years ago and I can still feel where they rammed into my legs."

"Do wheelchairs technically count as monsters?" Douglas finally, curiously spoke up. There was a pause as everyone considered this.

"Well, I guess you have to consider what makes a monster a monster." Eileen said, drumming her fingers on the table.

"Did it have teeth?"

"No. It was like someone was just shoving them down the hallway and deliberately ramming them into us."

"Did they chase you?" Cheryl asked.

"No, they just rolled back and forth and knocked into you if you didn't get out of their way fast enough."

"So, it was like 'Frogger' from hell?" Elle remarked with a little smile.

"Basically." Henry sighed.

"But does that make them _monsters_ , or are they just possessed, creepy objects that could potentially do you harm?" Cheryl pressed on as though settling this was a matter of dire importance.

"We're actually debating about whether or not a possessed wheelchairs count as monsters." Travis heard Laura giggle. "I love these people!"

[-]

"I see your twenty… And raise you forty."

"You're insane."

"So people tell me."

"Don't do it," Travis warned, giving Douglas a look. "Jim's got the mother of all Tell-Detectors. He always knows when you're bluffing."

"Rampant paranoia has its benefits." Wheeler said with a grin. "I see _everything_."

"I see your twenty," Douglas repeated insistently. "And raise you _forty_."

Travis sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Murphy and Alex were present as well, though not involved in the game. They were watching TV on the couch, channel-surfing and not really talking. Occasionally Travis would hear some murmured words between the two of them, but for the most part they were quiet. Alex had been a bit off since the last meeting, since the mention of that Bogeyman monster, and Travis knew that Murphy wasn't the type to pry.

"How are you liking the meetings so far?" Douglas inquired to Travis as he set his cards down.

Travis shrugged. "I like them well enough. I mean, we haven't talked too much about the town itself."

"Yeah." Wheeler cast a brief look in Alex and Murphy's direction and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Good thing, too. That one's already handling it badly." The TV was loud enough that Travis didn't think Wheeler could be heard over it.

"Well, it's not like we didn't all know that we were going to be dredging up shit we've been trying to forget." Douglas muttered, examining his cards critically. "I for one haven't gone a day without worrying that one of those fanatical assholes would finally get up the nerve to knock me off."

"If only they were yellow-bellied enough to disband once they were exposed." Wheeler mused, tapping Travis's worn wooden table with one finger.

"Ah, but then they wouldn't be fanatics, would they?" Travis said with a grim smile. "Have they given you any trouble, Doug?"

"Eh, a silent phone-call here and there, a brick or two through my window, the occasional symbols representing what I assume are death and destruction spray-painted on my door or car. All bark and no bite, really."

Wheeler frowned. "You exposed them to the world and all they're doing is petty shit like that?"

Douglas's lips quirked upwards. "You're forgetting that I closely associate with their patron saint, _Alessa_. Best guess that she and I can figure is that the Order's a little concerned about what Cheryl may or may not be capable of, and don't want to kill someone who might cause her to want to fuck them up."

"The Order _actually_ considering ahead of time that pissing someone with unusual powers off might be a bad idea? Pinch me, I'm dreaming." Travis chuckled, tone laced with bitterness. If only the sons-of-bitches had had that kind of foresight before toasting Alessa in the first place.

"And you know the hilarious part about it? Cheryl doesn't _have_ powers. At least, none that are apparent outside of Silent Hill. Aside from giving credence to that 'Hell Hath No Fury' bit, Cheryl's about as dangerous as anyone else- assuming she's not armed." Douglas's smirk grew a little wider. "But the Order doesn't have to know that, now do they?"

"Yeah, well, I'd be careful all the same." Wheeler muttered darkly, reaching for his glass. "The Order seemed nice and lively in Shepherd's Glen when they were taking over our town. According to some letters Alex found, it looks like they've got enough of a base in Silent Hill that they were ready to send missionaries to us when the ritu…al… Failed." He stopped and winced, shooting a look at Douglas. "Long story, don't ask."

Douglas waved an amiable hand. "Whatever." But then he made a face. "Not sure I like the idea of them gaining power on the sly though. May have to take a peek and see if they're still running some of their old operations."

"That's right: The Order used to have a hand in that PTV drug-ring, didn't they?" Travis could dimly recall Cheryl making some mention of it a while back.

"That's what I found. It's not surprising- I mean, where else would they get the money to pay off the authorities to look the other way?" Douglas shook his head. "Anyway, I figure my skills are just sharp enough that I might be able to pick up a few leads."

Wheeler whistled and shook his head. "I wouldn't say 'sharp', per se." He grinned and waved his cards, a hand that easily beat Douglas's. The private detective rolled his eyes and shoved a few chips the officer's way, and Wheeler gave a little cackle as he raked them in.

"I warned you." Travis said, folding his hands and rolling his eyes to the ceiling. "I did warn you."

"Shut up, Grady."

It was then that the phone started to ring. It rang twice before Travis looked over to the couch, and saw that Murphy's head was bent forward and propped up on one hand: Asleep. Alex reached over, picked up the cordless phone, and gave Murphy a little nudge to wake him up as he brought it over into the kitchen for Travis.

The older man checked the caller-ID and did a double-take. "Uh, Murphy? I think it's for you. Windham, Maine."

Murphy was up and off the couch faster than Travis knew he was capable of (especially since he had just been nodding off), took the phone with a quick "Thanks" and disappeared into his bedroom. Just before the door shut, Travis heard the beep of the phone and Murphy saying, "Hello?"

Alex looked after the man oddly. "What was that about?"

Travis waved a tired hand and picked up his cards again. "Don't ask."

"You know, for a group that's supposed to be sharing our experiences from Silent Hill, we say 'Don't ask' and 'Long story, so don't ask' a lot, don't we?" Douglas mused. Wheeler chuckled, and Alex rolled his eyes and went back to the couch.

Travis glanced at Murphy's bedroom door, and then forced himself to return his focus to the game.


	4. Problematic

Murphy stayed in his room long after Wheeler, Douglas and Alex left. Apparently the ex-con's sudden departure had alerted them that the call was reasonably serious business, and they had opted to ask Travis to wish Murphy a goodnight on their behalves. Whether or not Murphy was still on the phone was still up in the air; Travis couldn't hear him talking, but then, Murphy wasn't exactly the loudest person on the planet.

And so Travis cleaned up the remainder of the food and drinks, wiped off the kitchen table, put a few dishes in the sink to soak, and then sat down on the couch and decided that he would give Murphy one hour to come out and discuss before assuming that the man had fallen asleep. He flipped to a documentary on cults (he had given up on trying to understand the irony in situations like this) and let his eyes drift to the clock every now and then.

It took approximately half an hour before Murphy finally emerged, and Travis then considered if maybe he had been deliberately waiting to make sure that the others were gone before he metaphorically opened the floor for questions (he had to know that someone would ask). "Hey."

"Hey." Murphy rubbed his face and sat down on the other end of the couch. His face was blank for a moment, but then his brow furrowed when he saw the program. "Cults?"

"Yup."

"I would think you'd avoid stuff like this."

"Well, 'know your enemy' and all that." He waited a moment to see if Murphy would offer up a start to the inevitable conversation, but the younger man was silent. They sat in silence for a while because, damn it, Travis was not going to start this conversation. Travis always started the conversations because Murphy was a stubborn bastard who could put off anything if he put his mind to it, and Travis was not going to give him this one. Murphy had to know he was going to ask, and Travis was going to give him a chance to just bite the bullet and do it himself- else he explode from keeping whatever it was he had discussed with Cunningham inside. And he would explode: There was something in his posture that betrayed some serious tension.

It was maybe ten minutes before the end of the documentary, almost one o' clock, when Murphy spoke without prompting.

"I don't think the meetings are helping."

…Christ, if there was any person who could succeed at surprising Travis like this, it was Murphy Pendleton. That was not the topic of discussion he was expecting.

"Murph, we've only had two. Give it time."

"I've given it plenty of time, meetings or no: As of yesterday, six months of time. _The meetings are not helping._ "

Travis stared at the younger man for a long, long time. "You know, for a guy so generally patient, you are being awfully impatient about this. You do realize that this isn't a Lifetime movie where everyone is magically better before the year's up, right? Silent Hill fucked you up, Murphy, just like it fucked the rest of us up. That's not going to go away at the drop of a hat, no matter how much sharing and caring we do. And honestly, we haven't done that much."

"I'm not connecting to anyone."

"You don't _talk_ to anyone." Travis countered. "Look kid, this is sounding a lot like a load of excuses for not wanting to be around people, and I wasn't hearing them before your pal Cunningham gave you a call, so what's the deal?"

"She's getting grilled about me, that's the deal." Murphy snapped, pushing himself up and off the couch and starting to pace back and forth. "They tied together the fact that I was convicted of murdering Frank with her being his daughter, and now they're starting to suspect that she pushed me into the Devil's Pit, or shot me and dropped my body in there, or- _Fuck!_ " He turned and kicked the wall with a ferocity that made Travis jump. Murphy was a mild, mild person even on his worse days, and this was a side of him the trucker had never really seen before.

Once the russet-haired man had a chance to breathe and calm down, Travis spoke up. "How long has it been going on?"

Murphy blew out a slow, shaky breath. "Since May."

Travis nodded slowly, bit his tongue, considered. "Well, they can't convict her if there's no evidence, right? I mean, she didn't kill you and told them you fell into the Devil's Pit trying to get away from her. No evidence that she hurt you, no body for them to poke and prod at- they have nothing to go on."

He thought, anyway: If he'd wanted to know about the law, he would have gone to law-school, wouldn't he?

But Murphy still looked shaken. "Cunningham disappeared for- I don't know- twelve hours, or something like that. She had a lot of holes to fill in, and I guess not all of it was convincing."

Hell. That wasn't good. Travis wasn't certain if someone could get nailed on those details alone, but it certainly didn't paint an encouraging picture.

It was then that something very, very serious occurred to Travis. Maybe it was the way that Murphy was behaving; maybe it was the fact that he evidently had such strong concern for Officer Cunningham; maybe it was the fact that in spite of being an ex-con, Murphy was sincerely one of the most decent people Travis had ever been fortunate enough to meet- flawed, yes, but decent.

The kind of 'decent' that often made Murphy a crap liar, occasionally made him prone to things like extended guilt-trips and actions that most people would think twice about performing.

Travis rose from the couch, expression stormy. "No."

"What?"

"No. I know what you're thinking, and no."

The look on Murphy's face was all he needed to see to know that he had guessed correctly what course of action Murphy had been considering. "I can't just let her get dragged under the bus. She _helped me_ , Travis."

"Here's what's going to happen," Travis began dangerously, pointing at the younger man. "You are going to wait, and you are going to see if you need to intervene in Cunningham's situation. _You may not have to_ , because most judges and juries are going to think twice before convicting a person of murder without a body or any other solid evidence. Unless she confesses to killing you, and I sincerely doubt she will, she'll be fine. Do _not_ go rushing back to Ryall County and try turning yourself in until you feel like you have absolutely no other choice!"

Murphy had lost a lot of his visible frustration and anger during Travis's speech. After a moment, his shoulders sagged and he sat back down on the couch, leaning forward and putting his head into his hands. Travis shut his mouth, put his hands on his hips and turned away for a moment. When he had the peace of mind to speak again, he continued. "What was that shit about not going to the meetings again? Derailment?"

"I don't want to be around people." Murphy mumbled, not looking up.

"I went through that phase too. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about too much human contact when you spend most of your days in a truck. It passes." Travis said heatedly.

"Must have passed twice as quickly, since you only had to worry about yourself." Murphy snapped with renewed, unexpected venom.

That stung a bit. As one of the oldest Silent Hill survivors, Travis had had thirty-five years to cope and hide most of the stress he still retained from his visit to the town. But he _did_ still have it, had had bouts of anxiety and depression and moments where he had needed to lock up his shotgun and leave the key in the glove-compartment of his truck (parked at work), out of easy reach until his head could clear. To imply that he had actually _benefitted_ from being alone was a rather stupid assumption.

But Travis liked Murphy for a number of reasons, and one of those was Murphy's ability to recognize when he'd gone a bit too far. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." The dark-haired man croaked, dragging his hands through his hair.

Travis took a deep breath, counted to three, released the breath and managed to keep his voice under control. "I am not trying to belittle what you're going through, Murphy. And if it came off that way, I'm sorry. But hear me, Murphy, and trust me: Shutting yourself off from the world and hoping that those nasty thoughts and feelings eating away at your brain go away on their own is not going to work. Believe me, _I know_. I have _been there_. I have _felt it_. This isn't going to get fixed in weeks, or months, or even years, maybe- but there is going to come a time when you are going to want to have someone other than me to talk to, and you need to start making those connections when you have the opportunity to."

Whether or not all of this was making an impact wouldn't be clear for a while, because Murphy looked drained. If he was feeling anything like Travis had felt all of those years back, the younger man probably felt like a punching-bag: One new problem after another, never-ending, just another new batch of shit that he had to deal with when the fifty-million other problems were still a work-in-progress.

"Go to bed, Murph. We'll have plenty of time to argue about this later." Travis conceded, and Murphy stood up and wandered to his room without a word. From the lack of sound from said room, it sounded like he had just dropped into bed rather than getting undressed or taking part in any of his other typical nightly rituals. The man had just looked so desolate, so damn _empty_. It was an unwelcome reminder of what Travis had once had to look at in the mirror.

Travis waited until he was certain that Murphy was either asleep or likely too lost in his own thoughts to hear anything before going to his closet. He kept the shotgun in a safe inside, but that safe was always unlocked- and the door often slightly ajar- in the event that someone broke in; namely, one of those Order members that was tired of pitching bricks at Douglas Cartland and felt like taking out another hated enemy of the cult (Why they hadn't already was a mystery Travis might never know the answer to).

He shut the door, locked it, and pulled the key off the top of the safe. Travis slipped it into the pocket of the pants he had set for tomorrow, when he was set to go on a nearly-week-long route.

Just in case.

[-]

"Where's Murphy?"

Travis rubbed his eyes. "At home."

"Why?" Josh pressed. He was sitting in one of the small corners of the meeting room, occasionally glancing away from Travis and scanning the floor.

"Why are you crawling around on the floor like a two year-old?"

"I asked you first."

Travis rolled his eyes. "He's at home, wallowing. Now you."

"I'm looking for spiders." Josh frowned. "So many cobwebs and dust, never many spiders. At least, not that I can see." He stood up. "Why's he wallowing?"

"He's upset."

"About what?"

"About something I am not at liberty to discuss without his explicit permission."

Josh's frown deepened. "Is that code for 'Mind your own business, Josh'?"

"Ooh, you're good."

"Is he coming next week?"

Travis reclined back in his chair, hearing the plastic creak softly. He sighed. "I don't know. He just feels like being alone right now."

Josh mulled that over for a moment. He then glanced at the door; Wheeler and James were standing outside, talking. Laura had a party that night or something (possibly that homecoming dance Travis recalled James mentioning), and no one else had showed up yet. After a few seconds had passed, Josh turned to Travis with a surprisingly solemn expression on his face.

"Yeah, that's why Alex isn't here either. He's still upset over the Bogeyman thing, and Elle stayed home with him." Josh looked towards the door again, and then lowered his voice. "They try not to talk about it too much around me, because I guess they think it'll upset me. You know why I'm twelve and not sixteen like Laura, right?"

Travis nodded. "Yeah," He said quietly. "I do."

Josh played with his hands in a restless fashion, fueled by the anxiety of the topic. "I mean, all of it? That Alex and I, and we- And then I…?" Travis nodded again, and Josh gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, so I don't have to explain it." Another glance at the door. "So, I heard Elle and Alex talking about the Bogeyman. I guess when he and James were talking James told him that the Bogeyman that _he_ saw was because he felt guilty about… Something he did, I don't know, Alex didn't say."

Travis cringed inwardly, and was thankful that Alex either didn't know or hadn't shared James's rather unpleasant secret with Elle. "Right."

"And Alex said that it made sense that the Bogeyman was all about guilt because of… How I… You know." Josh winced and waved his hands as though that were the proper body language for 'How I Died'.

"Right."

"I think he's feeling guilty all over again, and he's kind of… Ashamed to be around everyone else here. He thinks he's bad." The look on the poor kid's face was the embodiment of a kicked puppy. "And he's not. I mean, it was an accident. I'm the one that stood up in the boat and started pulling on that stupid ring, and- It was an accident. He isn't a bad person." Josh stared at the ground. "I don't know how I can make him believe that."

Travis reached over and patted the boy's shoulder. "I can't tell you exactly what Murphy's upset about," He said, "But I can tell you that he's feeling pretty damn guilty about something too. Can't say I know how to convince him he's not a bad guy either, to be honest."

Josh made a face. "That sucks. I was going to ask you for advice."

Travis chuckled. "Afraid I don't have all the answers."  
"Laura said that you're like the Yoda to our Jedi Council."

"And _finally_ she uses a reference that I understand!" Travis threw his hands up, shaking his head.

Josh finally grinned again, and Travis had a great appreciation for that smile- the kid looked just awful when he was sad. "I'll make him keep coming back, though." He said. "He and James should talk more- Murphy too. If they're all feeling guilty about something, James might be able to help. He's doing okay."

 _Depends on how you define 'okay', but yeah, he's definitely doing better than Alex and Murphy._ Travis thought. "If I have my way, Murphy's hauling his ass back here too. They can't bury their heads in the sand forever."

"Damn straight!"

As it so happened, the only other person to show up was Henry: Cheryl was helping Douglas on a case, Murphy, Alex and Elle had stayed at home, Laura was at her party and Eileen's sister had apparently broken her leg and needed some help settling back into her apartment.

They decided to go their separate ways for the evening, as James preferred to make sure that Laura got home at a reasonable hour, Josh wanted to be with his brother (at least, that was the vibe Travis got), and quite honestly, Travis wanted to make sure that Murphy was doing all right.

Travis didn't have kids, hadn't kept a steady girlfriend since the late nineties and had no biological family to speak of. Murphy was the first person in a long time that he had become attached to, someone he could call a companion- and hell, with the age difference and the amount of wisdom he found himself relating to the younger man on a regular basis, Travis often found himself thinking of Murphy as something like a son- more often than not a friend, but many times a son.

He didn't have to make himself responsible for the younger man when he first met him all those months back. He didn't have to take him in, help him find a job and share what he knew about Silent Hill with him. But Travis had; and as good a friend, as good a family member as Murphy had become, he had no intention of letting the man slip off into some eternally miserable existence, consumed by the same guilt Silent Hill had tried to help him rid himself of.

Come hell or high water, Murphy was going back to those meetings. He _was_ going to deal with this.


	5. Completion

When the next meeting came around, Travis was in a Zero-Tolerance for Bullshit frame of mind.

"Meeting-time. Get your coat."

Murphy's eyes narrowed, and Travis half-expected an irritable remark about how much the thirty-four year-old didn't enjoy being spoken to like a child. After a moment, though, he simply threw up his arms and did as requested.

The almost hour-long ride to the church was more or less silent, and Travis was content to let it stay that way- save for one question. "Did Cunningham say if she was going to try and come to the meeting or not?"

Murphy shrugged, focused on the little drops of rain on the window. "I told her the times and dates, but she didn't give me an answer." Travis was willing to wager that Cunningham might not want to sneak off to any secret meetings while she was under investigation. And for now, that might be best for the whole group.

"Did she sound interested?"

Murphy made a face. "I couldn't tell." They left it at that.

As he was present, it seemed that Alex was either in a better state of mind than the last meeting, or Elle and Josh had done what Travis did and just demanded that he come along anyway. He, Elle, Wheeler, James and Henry were seated at the table when Travis and Murphy walked in. "Eileen still with her sister?" Travis asked, and Henry nodded. It occurred to him that he had no idea if Henry and Eileen carpooled to the meetings or if they actually lived together, and made a note to ask later on.

Laura and Josh were in the corner, heads bent, whispering. Something about the sight sent a chill through Travis, but if James and Alex weren't concerned, then why should he be?

 _Because Alex doesn't expect Josh to be a bad kid, and James is largely numb to Laura's evilness at this point?_ A little voice in his head remarked.

Ah, right.

"What are you two up to?" Travis said, raising his voice slightly. Laura and Josh's heads raised simultaneously, a motion that sent another chill down his spine. Oh yes, they were definitely scheming.

"Nothing." Laura said, blinking innocently.

"Less than nothing. We are doing less than nothing." Josh added, and Laura elbowed him warningly.

Travis turned to James, who waved it off with his eyes shut. "As long as it isn't a felony, I don't care."

"Just a felony?" Murphy remarked with a skeptical look as he took his seat.

"At this point, I _pray_ the worst she does are misdemeanors."

Cheryl and Douglas arrived a few minutes later; and to further Travis's already strong suspicion of impending shenanigans, Laura and Josh addressed the group with overly-innocent smiles.

"We decided that since you guys are talking about lots of _grown-up_ stuff," Laura began sweetly. "That we should give you a chance to talk about it without having to censor yourselves for our benefit. So we're just gonna step outside for this meeting and give you guys a chance to chat."

She grabbed Josh's arm and took a step towards the door, only to have James's arm swing out in front of her. Laura's adopted father looked up at her dangerously. "No property damage."

"Uh-huh."

"No assault unless in purely self-defense."

"Of course."

"And by self-defense, I mean that someone has actually given physical indication that they are going to harm you or Josh."

"Right."

"Threats do not count."

"If you say so."

"No fires should be set."

"Mm-hm."

"There will be consequences for doing any of these things."

"I have no doubt."

James removed his arm, and the two left the room. Everyone could hear the explosion of excited giggling before the door had fully closed. "What have you unleashed?" Douglas asked James. Then he turned to Alex. "And why are _you_ just letting him go with her?"

Alex shrugged. "Josh is a good kid. He'll be fine."

"Unless Laura corrupts him." Douglas pointed out, and then Alex didn't look quite as certain as he had before.

Cheryl waved her hands. "They'll be fine. And actually, Laura made an interesting point; so why don't we focus on some things were normally wouldn't want to cover with the kids present?"

"Like what?" Wheeler asked.

"Like the fact that one of the monsters Murphy saw in Silent Hill was a sex-doll monster." Travis said with a broad grin before he could stop himself.

" _Really?_ " Murphy squawked, snapping out of the funk he had been in for the first time in a while. "How long have you wanted to tell them that?"

"It's _funny!_ "

"No, it was creepy. Creepy as hell. Some of them had blood around their mouths." Everyone but Henry and Elle groaned.

"What? I don't get it." Henry said, eyes flipping back and forth over everyone.

"Good, don't get it. Bask in that lack of understanding." Alex winced and crossed his legs. Elle seemed to take that advice and didn't ask either.

"Creeper diaries!" Cheryl said raggedly, pulling at her hair. "Oh my God, I was in Brookhaven-"

"Is that the medical or mental hospital?" Elle interrupted.

"I think they've switched uses over the years, I don't know. But anyway, I'm walking around Brookhaven and finding these diaries by this guy, Stanley Coleman- He was talking about how obsessed he was with me, and how he was so in _love_ with me!" Cheryl made a face and shivered. "He called me 'lover'! I had never even met this guy before and I was _seventeen!_ "

"Yeah," Douglas said darkly. "He's another one we've been keeping a close eye out for. We're pretty sure he's dead, but you can't be too careful."

"He left dolls next to the notes for me. Dolls like the ones I played with when I was little. _Do you understand what level of creepery this guy achieved?_ "

"Ugh, how would he even know that?" Elle grimaced.

"Stalking, probably." Travis ventured, and Cheryl made a wild, repulsed noise and waved her hands.

"Gah, don't give me anymore nightmares than I already have!"

"Okay, change of subject." Travis said. "Of those of us who saw nurse-monsters in Silent Hill, who noticed that they had a great deal of cleavage showing?" Just about every hand went up.

"And really big boobs, too. If Silent Hill were a person, it would be a massive pervert." Cheryl snickered.

"All right, here's a gross one," James began, folding his hands and leaning back in his seat. "These huge fleshy-things that were trapped in these… Boxes that hung from the ceilings. There were arms coming out of the top, legs coming out of the bottom, and a mouth… Where its other parts should have been."

"Egh." Expressions of disgust went up around the room.

"None of these monsters had normal mouths." Douglas remarked. "But then, not all of them _had_ mouths."

Suddenly, Henry groaned. "What?" Murphy inquired.

"I just got it." The brunette said, looking pained. It took everyone a moment to realize what he was referring to, but once they did, they all burst into laughter.

_**BAMP** bumpbumpbump._

Every went quiet.

"What was that?" Alex began, eyes locking on the door. James didn't bother pausing to listen further, just stood up, went over to the door, opened it and stuck his head into the larger room.

"Laura, I wasn't joking!"

"Josh tripped on a trash-can, it's fine!"

"That did not sound like a _trash-can_."

"It was a plastic trash-can!"

"It did _not_ sound like a trash-can. I swear to God, Laura-"

"What God? You're an atheist!"

" _Laura, so help me-_ "

"James, James," Douglas got up and carefully led James back to his seat. "Relax. You're going to pop a blood-vessel. Let's not get overly concerned until we start hearing explosions."

"Yeah, Laura doesn't sound like the kind of kid who makes quiet trouble." Wheeler said with a sniff.

"You'd be surprised." James intoned darkly as he sat down again. "Does anyone know if vandalism counts as a felony?"

"I think only if you hurt someone in the process." Douglas said.

"You wouldn't sue, right Alex?" Alex gave a bleak little chuckle, but didn't answer.

"Three meetings in and we're already discussing lawsuits. Excellent." Cheryl remarked with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, back to R-Rated things we can't discuss in front of the kids. Let's just get it out of the way with this meeting. Next?"

"Okay, it's not R-Rated, but Josh would flip out on me if I said it." Alex said with a wry grin. "Robbie the Rabbit. Holy _shit_ , Robbie the Rabbit."

Henry looked mildly horrified. "You see it too? Jesus, I thought I was the only one."

"The fuck is Robbie the Rabbit?" Travis asked, finally feeling as though he were completely out of the loop on something.

"It's a _rabbit_."

"Yeah, I got that part."

"It's the mascot of the Lakeside Amusement Park, and it is the creepiest thing you could ever hope to lay eyes on, I swear to God." Alex said. "It's his _eyes_ , Travis, the hollow, soulless eyes- _Stop laughing, Wheeler-_ " Because Wheeler had fallen into breathless, hysterical laughter. "Henry agrees with me!"  
"Wait, wait," Murphy cut in, shutting his eyes. "Pink rabbit, blue overalls?" Henry and Alex both nodded, Henry a little more calmly than the older Shepherd brother. "I found something like that in Silent Hill."

"And its gaze was soulless, correct?" Alex prodded, and Murphy shrugged.

"I don't know. I was a bit busy trying not to get my skull cracked open by the huge, hulking monsters roaming the streets."

"Is it just the eyes, or something else?" James asked.

"It stared at me." Everyone turned to look at Henry, who was completely straight-faced. "I'm not kidding. Eileen had one- probably still does- and it stared at me. It was looking away from me, and then it was staring at me." His cheeks went a little red, though Travis could not venture a guess as to why. "She didn't move it. It moved on its own."

"I saw a mascot-costume in Lakeside, and I _swear_ it felt like there was someone inside it waiting to jump up and attack me." Cheryl shivered.

"Evil. Robbie the Rabbit is _evil_." Alex insisted, looking livelier than he had all night. "But Josh loves them. He still has his Robbie doll, and I make him keep it in his room."

Wheeler was wheezing with laughter. "I wake up one morning to this one shrieking like a little girl." He managed, gesturing to Alex. "Josh put the rabbit in the refrigerator, and when Alex pulled out the milk bottle he started freaking out!" He slammed his hand down on the table as he laughed even harder.

Alex glared at Wheeler and Elle (who was giggling helplessly). "Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious. Almost as hilarious as the time you freaked out over those blinking lights outside your window because you thought aliens had come. That was Josh being hilarious too, I think."

Wheeler immediately went serious. "Visitors from another planet are more likely than your brother's stuffed rabbit becoming possessed."

"Yeah, well, when Robbie the Freaking Rabbit is standing over you in bed with a bloody butcher's knife in his hand, don't say I didn't warn you." Alex grunted.

"Remind me again how this conversation started?" Murphy asked with an odd look.

"The topic was 'Things We Can't Talk About in Front of the Kids'." Douglas reminded him with a tight smile. "If we're done with demonic plush-toys, anyone else want to share a non-kid-safe story?"

"My example falls under the same heading as the… Robbie-thing- It's not explicit, but I don't exactly want Laura knowing about this. Did anyone else see a tendency for relatively important items to be found in either very disgusting or very dangerous places in Silent Hill?" James cleared his throat. "Like, say, toilets?"

Cheryl's lip curled up. "Oh my God, I couldn't even-"

_BumBUMPbumBUMPbumBUMPbumBUMP bumBUMPbumBUMPbum **BUMP-**_

_**CRASH**_.

This time, oddly enough, it _did_ sound like a trashcan: A trashcan that had just gone tumbling down the staircase that led to the basement. A few people jumped at the first bump, and the few seconds it took for the noise to stop found everyone cringing painfully at the sound of the object hitting each step.

And then, after a moment-

" _WHOO! Let's go again! Let's go again!_ " That sounded like Josh.

" _What_ was that?" Henry asked.

"The sound of us losing this space." Douglas growled. "You two need to get shock-collars for those two." He directed that at James and Alex.

"Quiet, quiet- Crap, is someone out there with them?" Elle interrupted, leaning over in her seat in an attempt to see out of the small window on the door. "I thought I heard someone other than Laura and Josh." They all fell silent, listening.

"Are you two even supposed to be down here?" The voice was feminine, and Travis didn't recognize it. It sounded like she was standing further away than Josh and Laura were.

"Well, yeah, we just, uh-" Josh stuttered.

Suddenly, Laura's voice was heard with surprising clarity: "Oh shit, she's a cop."

Everyone froze.

"That's it," James broke the silence, hopelessly throwing his hands up. "That's it. She's getting arrested. She has narrowly avoided incarceration before, and now she's getting arrested. Fantastic."

"Easy, James." Travis advised, rising from his seat. "I don't think you can get arrested for screwing around in a church basement. We just tell her we're allowed to be here and wrangle the brats, no problem."

"Let's do it quick before Laura has a chance to shoot her mouth off." Wheeler muttered, he and Alex also rising.

The stairs were located in a small hallway that branched off from the larger room of the basement. Josh was standing next to a large, plastic trash-can (So Laura _hadn't_ been lying earlier, it seemed), holding the lid in one hand and the edge of the can with the other. Laura was playing nervously with her hands, and Travis was surprised; she didn't strike him as the type to be intimidated by anyone, not even police officers (especially for something less than murder). The officer in question wasn't visible, hidden from view in the stairwell.

"Well, we were just looking for the vending machines, aaaaand Josh was walking up the stairs and hit the can. That made it fall down the stairs, and-"

"And they're going to put it back right now and fix anything they may have knocked over, right?" Travis said loudly, and Josh and Laura flinched.

"Uh, yessir." Josh said, putting the lid back on the can and quickly disappearing up the stairs. Laura flashed James a winning smile.

"I can totally explain this."

"You'll have plenty of time on the ride home." James said icily, arms crossed. "My advice? Make it creative, because that's going to be a significant factor in determining how long you're grounded for."

Laura had the decency to look apologetic. "I will get to work on that story post-haste." She scuttled off towards the meeting room, Josh on her heels. James took a deep breath and went after them. Once the kids had both moved away, the woman on the stairs stepped into view.

She was perhaps in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, with dark, dark red hair and green eyes. Something was off about her uniform, though: She had a badge, an American flag patched onto her left shoulder and an official-looking shield-shaped patch on her right, but it didn't look like a standard police uniform- at least, not that Travis had seen. Maybe it was the hood on the back that was throwing him off.

"Look, uh, we're sorry about that, we _are_ supposed to be down here-" Alex began.

"I'm not a police officer." The woman said, one hand up. "I'm a prison guard. I was looking for a meeting that was supposed to be going on here tonight and, uh…" She opened her mouth, seemingly considering what she was going to say, and then finally said (more to herself than them), "Please tell me I have the right church."

"You do." Travis looked over his shoulder and saw Murphy standing there, hands jammed into his pockets. "Guys, this is Anne Cunningham, she was in Silent Hill too. With me."

Cunningham looked relieved to see a familiar face. That relief didn't spread far, though: The slightly hard expression on her face seemed natural to her, even when it was clear that she was going for friendly. "I guess I'm late." She said.

"Nah, not really." Wheeler said, waving a hand and then raising his voice so that Alex could hear as he walked back to the room, "Unless you think little pink rabbit dolls can become possessed!"

"Fuck you!" Alex barked in retort.

Wheeler cackled and started off towards the room as well. Travis stepped forward and offered Cunningham a hand and smile. "Travis Grady. Nice to meet you, Officer Cunningham."

Anne's smile was small, but sincere. "Anne is fine. Nice to meet you, Travis." They shook, and then Travis stepped back and let Murphy approach, slowly starting to make his way back to the meeting.

"Glad you could make it." Murphy said, and Travis could see that the tenseness in his shoulders contradicted the light tone he was going for.

"I almost didn't; I got a little turned around trying to get here."

Travis reached the door of the meeting room and chuckled as he heard Elle enthusiastically chewing Josh out- evidently, Josh had been inside that trash-can as it went tumbling down the staircase, hence the louder bumps and bangs than the first attempt had yielded. The room was narrow enough that there was a bit of hassle trying to get everyone seated, and as Travis was waiting for room to move back to his seat, he happened to overhear Anne say to Murphy, "The investigation was suspended."

"Really?"

"It's still open, but suspended. Apparently the higher-ups decided that five months of investigation with shaky evidence to go on isn't worth the manpower." And to Travis's shock, he actually heard Murphy _laugh._

"Thank God for whatever tightwad decided the cost wasn't worth it."

"I don't know if that was quite the case, but I'm thankful anyway."

Travis finally had room to wiggle back in to his seat. Murphy also returned to his own, and Anne slipped into Josh's usual seat- the twelve year-old was currently perched on the end of the table, listening to Elle give a sound lecture on the effects of too many hits to the head. "How do you think Wheeler got to be so paranoid?"

"I got to be paranoid because there are things in this world that I apparently need to be paranoid about! Are you seriously forgetting about the crazy-ass demon-worshipping cult back home?" Wheeler snapped.

"What's your excuse for the alien-thing, then?" Josh asked with a little smirk. Wheeler grumbled something incoherent, and Alex snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, suddenly the rabbit thing isn't so funny, is it?"

"No, it's not funny- It's _hilarious._ " Wheeler retorted.

"All right!" Cheryl slipped her shoe off and banged it on the table, wryly eyeing the two adults at the end of the table. "Thank you! You live together, you can mock each other at home to your hearts' content. We have an hour and twenty minutes left, and we seem to have a new member. You are?"

Anne straightened up when everyone looked at her. "Anne Cunningham. Hi. I'm- I know Murphy." She flipped her gaze to the table, and when Travis looked down he saw that her hands were folded tightly on her lap.

Greetings arose from around the room, and Anne relaxed a bit. "Don't worry, sweetheart, we don't bite." Douglas said easily. "Well, except Laura." The teenager spit her tongue out at him, but that ended quickly with a stern look from James.

Cheryl must have sensed that Anne wasn't enjoying being the momentary center of attention, and so she tapped her shoe on the table again before slipping it back onto her foot. "Okay! I believe we were about to discuss why so many of us had to stick our hands into unpleasant places to pull things out. James, you mentioned a toilet. Continue?"

Travis happened to catch sight of Anne's face; both eyebrows had popped up in surprise and slight disgust. He grinned and caught her eye.

"Welcome to the club, kid."

-End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that are eager to see other meetings, don't worry! I fully intend to write out the contents of those other meetings, because they're too fun to not work with. But what I was thinking of doing was exploring some of the other characters' stories from their points of view while incorporating the other meetings in those stories. Maybe I'll do one from Henry or Eileen's point of view, or Alex, or James, or Anne- you get the idea.
> 
> So it's over, but it's not actually over.


End file.
